Comments on: Domes are over-rated

By: VXXC

VXXC — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 03:33:12 +0000

Casey Handmer H8′s Musk and perhaps wanted to be an astronaut and can’t, so he’ll piss on the whole thing.

Why is he getting play?

“It’ll never fly” they told the Wright Brothers.

People like this need to be sterilized.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 06:49:04 +0000

Freddo: “So the good thing about a dome is that while you are doing the extensive foundation engineering, you can cheaply add a number of underground levels.”

You can cheaply add a number of underground levels? Interesting…

By: Steven C

Steven C — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 22:16:23 +0000

This article completely ignores the fact that the higher radiation on the surfaces of the Moon and Mars makes surface domes problematic. At the very least, a few meters of soil will be needed to cover the entire upper surface of these domes.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 16:09:45 +0000

Domes are strong in both tension and compression.

Manufacture the domes in a different way and they become far easier to build.Spray foam solves most of the problems. Don’t construct using panels.

Domes are efficient in tension and compression. Pressure vessels (think 500 gallon propane tank) are built with hemispherical ends. Due to less bending stress, the thickness of the ends is 1/2 the thickness of the straight walls.

Domes use less material. Even if the material used is weak in tension (like concrete), material can be added to compensate (rebar).

It’s easy to insulate a dome using spray foam. The problems with acute angles disappears. And because the foam becomes a structural member, tolerances on the assembly of the frame can be larger and not lose strength.

This means it’s easy to add openings, and easy to connect domes together. Then using many smaller domes instead of a single larger one won’t cause foundation problems.

And you wouldn’t depend on membranes to contain the air.

By: Longarch

Longarch — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 06:12:30 +0000

These last few posts have really been slaughtering my sacred cows. I love zeppelins, geodesic domes, underground engineering, theoretical life support systems … and these last couple of posts have just been telling me that all my favorite parts of sci-fi stories will never work in my lifetime.

Nothing to do now but drown my sorrows in whiskey and cosplay.

By: Altitude Zero

Altitude Zero — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 01:10:35 +0000

I see lots of software development and theoretical work, not a lot of actual physical accomplishment. He’s smart, certainly, but I don’t really see anything operational – at least not yet. I’ll withhold judgement…

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 23:33:06 +0000

I’m not sure how much he’s done, but from his resume we can see that he has worked at JPL, Hyperloop, and Caltech (as a postdoc and grad student).

By: Harper’s Notes

Harper’s Notes — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 16:05:17 +0000

Mars has a serious radiation problem. Almost no atmosphere. Almost no geomagnetic field. Don’t leave out solar flares and CME’s. Elon’s Boring company probably had something to do with the radiation problem? Elon likes rockets. Elon likes Mars colonization. Elon likes underground excavation. Connect the tunnels. Bode’s Law on the succession of the distances of the planets from the Sun led to the discovery of Ceres. Ceres is somewhat less than double the distance out from the Sun than Mars. Inverse distance squared so approximately 1/4th the radiation. 24 7 sunlight versus Mars planetary rotation. Put covered plants on Sun-nearside of asteroid, humans on farside. Still close enough to Sun to grow things. That’s my understanding. What am I missing?

By: Altitude Zero

Altitude Zero — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 14:53:48 +0000

So, has this Casey Handmer guy ever actually built anything? If so, what? If not why exactly should we be listening to him? He may be right in what he says, but lets see something that he has actually accomplished. Pie in the sky startups that promise to capture carbon using unicorn farts don’t count.

By: Freddo

Freddo — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 13:01:58 +0000

So the good thing about a dome is that while you are doing the extensive foundation engineering, you can cheaply add a number of underground levels. And the lack of rain/ground water – esp. under freeze/thaw cycles – makes that a much more feasible solution than on earth where our high value locations usually have a high water table.